A COMPARISON OF KETOROLAC WITH FLUNIXIN, BUTORPHANOL, AND OXYMORPHONEIN CONTROLLING POSTOPERATIVE PAIN IN DOGS

Ketorolac tromethamine, a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory analgesic, was compared with flunixin and butorphanol for its analgesic efficacy and potential side effects after laparotomy or shoulder arthrotomy in dog s. Sixty-four dogs were randomly assigned to receive butorphanol 0.4 m g/kg body weight (BW) (n = 21), flunixin 1.0 mg/kg BW (n = 21), or ket orolac 0.5 mg/kg BW (n = 22), in a double blind fashion. The analgesic efficacy was rated from 1 to 4 (1 = inadequate, 4 = excellent) for ea ch dog. The average scores after laparotomy were ketorolac, 3.4; fluni xin, 2.7; and butorphanol, 1.6. After shoulder arthrotomy, the average scores were ketorolac, 3.5; flunixin, 3.0; and butorphanol, 1.4 (5/11 dogs). As butorphanol was unable to control pain after shoulder arthr otomy, oxymorphone, 0.05 mg/kg BW, replaced butorphanol in a subsequen t group of dogs and had a score of 2.0 (6/11 dogs), Serum alanine amin otransferase and creatinine were significantly elevated above baseline at 24 hours postoperatively in dogs receiving flunixin. One dog in ea ch group developed melena or hematochezia. One dog receiving ketorolac had histological evidence of gastric ulceration, We concluded that ke torolac is a good analgesic for postoperative pain in dogs.